Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;and give me life in your ways. Psalm 119:37 ESV “The eye is not satisfied with seeing…” (Ecclesiastes 1:8). Despite the very best efforts of streaming services like Netflix, the Preacher’s words still remain true. Our eyes now have literally more content to view than can possibly be …
Continue reading Turn My Eyes from Looking at Worthless Things | Psalm 119:37
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous …
Continue reading No Longer Walk as the Gentiles Do | Ephesians 4:17-24
Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart …
Continue reading Rejoice, Remove, Remember! | Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. …
I read from Stephen Nichols (in Heaven on Earth: Capturing Jonathan Edwards's Vision of Living in Between) that Jonathan Edwards was voted out of his church after moving the church to closed communion. The change backfired in part because Edwards failed to cultivate deep friendships within his congregation that would support him through such a …
SUGGESTED VERSES FOR MEMORIZATION & MEDITATION Ecclesiastes 7:29 | See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. OPENING THOUGHT To many the book of Ecclesiastes appears to be quite depressing. Of course, the book’s repeated proclamation of everything being vanity does little to disprove such interpretations. …
Continue reading The Vanity of Understanding Under the Sun | Ecclesiastes 7:25-29
SUGGESTED VERSES FOR MEMORIZATION & MEDITATION Ecclesiastes 7:15 | In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. Ecclesiastes 7:23 | All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be …
Continue reading The Vanity of Righteousness & Wisdom Under the Sun | Ecclesiastes 7:15-24
SUGGESTED VERSES FOR MEMORIZATION & MEDITATION Ecclesiastes 7:2 | It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Ecclesiastes 7:14 | In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in …
Continue reading The Vanity of Laughter Under the Sun | Ecclesiastes 7:1-14
SUGGESTED VERSES FOR MEMORIZATION & MEDITATION Ecclesiastes 6:3 | If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than …
Continue reading The Vanity of Blessings Under the Sun | Ecclesiastes 6
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 (ESV) In these verses, Solomon proclaims that all is vanity. Or using other words, everything is meaningless. That statement is true, but there is a problem. …
B. C. Newton 